1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a key management box or cabinet for collectively managing electronic keys to be used by users to unlock the locks of office furniture.
2. Description of Related Art
In offices (work or support spaces of companies and the like used for conventional office activities such as writing, filing, and storage work), dedicated keys for opening and closing filing or storage cabinets respectively are heretofore stored or deposited in a key management box. In borrowing or using one or some of the keys, a user (e.g., an office worker) opens a door of the key management box by ID authentication using for example an ID card of the user and takes out the key(s) of the storage cabinet(s) the user intends to utilize (open). At that time, the key management box authenticates the user ID from his/her ID card and allows the door to be opened only when the user has the authority of access to the target storage cabinet(s).
If many storage cabinets are to be utilized in sequence to check or take out documents stored therein, a user has to move to the cabinets while carrying many keys for the storage cabinets at a time. This results in poor workability. To solve this disadvantage, a system configured to open and close a plurality of storage cabinets by use of a single key has been desired.
Such a system to open and close two or more storage cabinets by a single key is disclosed in for example Patent Document 1. In this document, electronic keys each including an IC chip and two terminals connected to the IC chip are collectively managed in a key management box. When personal authentication is successfully executed, the key management box causes the contact IC chip to store storage cabinet identifying data to specify two or more storage cabinets which the user has access to. When the user moves to the storage cabinet and inserts the electronic key in a lock of the storage cabinet, this storage cabinet reads the storage cabinet identifying data from the IC chip and determines whether or not the user has the authority of access to that cabinet. If the access right is authenticated, this cabinet unlocks the lock to allow opening and closing of the door. If the access right is not authenticated, on the other hand, the cabinet remains the lock unlocked to disallow opening and closing of the door. Accordingly, the user is allowed to open and close only the storage cabinet accessible by the user to check or take out any documents stored in that cabinet. In the case where storage cabinet identifying data for two or more storage cabinets accessible by a user is stored in the contact IC chip of the electronic key, the user is permitted to open and close the cabinets by the single electronic key to check or take out any documents.
Normally, one electronic key for opening and closing a plurality of storage cabinets is used only for a short time per day. In case such electronic keys are assigned one by one to users (office workers), the key management box has to manage the electronic keys to the number corresponding to the number of persons who may use the keys, and thus needs redundant space. The key management box disclosed in Patent Document 1 is therefore configured such that the contact IC chip of the electronic key stores ID data to identify a user in addition to the storage cabinet identifying data. According to the above key management box, the electronic key in which ID data is stored in the contact IC chip is used as a specified key assigned to the user corresponding to the ID data. This allows shared use of a single key among a plurality of persons. The number of electronic keys to be managed by the key management box is reduced, resulting in space saving.